News

Three cheers for booing

A reader complained not so long ago about my photograph in the paper. "I generally enjoy your work," he said, "but why don't you do something about your picture? You look as if somebody has pushed a broom handle up your backside. What's more, you look as if you're enjoying it."

As letters of complaint go, that was relatively complimentary. Another reader, furious that I had been slightly rude about Oscar Wilde, wrote the following: "When I tread in something unpleasant in the street, from now on I will think of you." What an amateur cook said about my views on homemade marmalade is pretty much unprintable, but it was along the lines of the following robust note: "Dear Mr White, you are a patronising little s*** and I hope you die of Aids."

I'd just like to make it clear - especially to the editor - that people also send me